Bennett Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and I'll try to do it justice. A man named Mycajah Y. Bennett came out of Georgia and made his way to Texas with his family.

By 1850, the census for Rusk County had his name in it, which means he was here, putting down roots, figuring out what this land was going to mean to him. Now, at some point, Mycajah found himself up on a hill with some other men, and they were doing what people did back then: clearing trees. Hard work, quiet work, the kind that gives a man time to think.

And standing there among the timber, Mycajah Bennett said something that stuck. He told the people around him that when his time came, he wanted to be buried right here, under one particular large tree. You might call that morbid.

I'd call it a man who knew a good piece of ground when he stood on it. When Mycajah died in 1856, the people who loved him remembered what he'd said, and they honored it. They laid him down under that tree on that hill.

That's the first known burial in what would come to be called Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Now here's the thing that makes this place older and stranger than even that. Local history dates the cemetery back to 1843, before Bennett ever owned the property.

So the ground had already been holding people when Mycajah made his wish. He just became the name the story gathered around. As the years went on, family members and friends were buried near him.

His son, Richmond Oliver Bennett, reportedly donated the land for use as a burial ground for the agricultural community of Crecy. Records show a Baptist church stood adjacent to the burial ground at one time. The cemetery's name eventually changed from Pleasant Hill to Bennett Cemetery.

A cemetery association formed in 1902, and that association continues to maintain the place to this day. More than fifteen hundred graves are there now, including those of military veterans and pioneer area settlers. One man paused while clearing trees, said he liked this hill, and somehow that moment is still echoing.

That's a long way for a single remark to travel.

What the marker says

Georgia native Mycajah Y. Bennett arrived in Texas with his family by 1850, when he is listed in the census for Rusk County. According to family tradition, he and others were clearing trees from this hill when he remarked that upon his death he would like to be buried here, under a particular large tree. When he died in 1856, they honored his request. As other family members and friends died, they were buried near him in what came to be known as Pleasant Hill Cemetery. His is the first known burial, although local history dates the cemetery to 1843, prior to Bennett's ownership of the property. The burial ground was later renamed Bennett Cemetery, and Mycajah's son, Richmond Oliver Bennett, reportedly donated the land for use as a burial ground for the agricultural community of Crecy. Records indicate a Baptist church was at one time located adjacent to the burial ground. A cemetery association formed in 1902 and continues to maintain the cemetery, which has more than 1,500 graves, including those of military veterans and pioneer area settlers. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2003